Anyone pursuing a Ph.d?

I’ll be finished with my masters in Clinical & Mental Health Counseling Spring 15′ and I’m highly interested in going for the goalie, so to speak. I’m interested in possibly pursuing my ph.d in order to become a psychologist. I’ve recently become intimidated because I’m learning that it’s very difficult to get in a psych phd program and my GRE score was HORRIBLE!!!

Anyone in the Psych or any Ph.d program? If so, how was your experience getting admitted? Advice?

@ny88: I’m finishing my Ph.D in Clinical Psychology (emphasis in Neuropsychology, hopefully will do a Neuropsych post doc) this upcoming year! (Got my M.S. along the way). A lot of my fellow cohort members got their M.A/M.S before hand, but unfortunatelly they soon realized that they pretty much had to start at square one in the Ph.D. program. You can PM me if you have any questions!

@MrsBPhD: OMG, thanks for responding. I’ve been a nervous wreck as of lately. My partner wants to move to NC so I’m looking at schools there. I’m really interested in Chapel Hill but just reading the admittance stats have me scared sh******! Did you have decent GRE & GPA? Were you admitted your first time around? I was initally interested in the Psy.d but I decided the Ph.d was easier to find work with. Is the research truly difficult? As you can tell I have so many questions…

@ny88: P.S. Have you looked into what degree you need to do what you want to do? A lot of the psych field can be done with an MS/MA. Of course, there are some things that do need a PhD. I just say this because I know a few people who half regretted getting involved in a 5 year PhD for psych when they didn’t need it for their desired career choice. It’s a long, hard and frustrating path filled with many hoops to jump through. If you are interested in any clinical work, your last year will be spent in an internship somewhere across the country. Some grad schools don’t tell you, but a lot of the time a 5 year phd program turns into a 6-7 year (1/4 of the people who apply to internship don’t match, and you need to repeat the process the next year). But let me know if you have any specific questions or need some advice, or want to know what its like 🙂

@MrsBPhD: I’m interested in Clinical Psychology. I have 2 reasons. One, I’ve already been training in thisfield and practicing for 2 years now in my practicum and internship. Two, I would prefer greater stability. I love what I do and I love being able to help people, but financially, I’m concerned. Is it mandatory to go out of the state and/or country for the internship? I know a lot of these have to be APA acredited but, I don’t know how that would work for my relationship. Also, how was your admittance process?

In case this helps, I got admitted to a Master’s/PhD in Clinical Psychology with a VERY bad quantitative GRE score (i.e. 25th percentile), though my verbal score was very high and analytical writing score was pretty good. General feedback I’ve received is that quantitative is not so important as long as your stats course grades are good and that verbal and analytical writing are most important. I’ve also been told that bad GRE scores don’t generally make or break your chances; they just boost an otherwise mediocre application if they’re good or confirm a bad application if they’re bad. So make sure the rest of your application is strong if you’re worried about your GRE scores and don’t think you’ll be retaking them. I’d say most academics are aware that performance on GRE does not correlate with successful completion of grad school anyway.

Jezika: Thank you for responding. I am a horrible test taker. I’ve been looking in to non-degree seeking entry for the Ph.d program and then apply. I had to do that for my masters also. I’m interested in one school in particular and on their admissions page they state that the GRE only accounts for 5% of the admissions process so I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Now my newest concern is not having research experience…

ny88: I honestly wouldn’t worry so much about the GRE. You can also go to http://thegradcafe.com/survey/index.php and search for clinical programs and see what kind of GRE scores people who got accepted had (little red dots on the entries show wherre GRE information was provided).

Getting research experience is a lot more important, I would say (for PhD, at least… possibly not for PsyD). What I learned in undergrad is that it’s harder to get into a grad program in psychology without an honours thesis, simply because that gives you research experience. Many applicants have research experience beyond that too. Luckily, however, that shouldn’t be too tricky to get on a volunteer basis, though it is of course a significant time investment.

Maybe this is just a Canadian thing, but a lot of people do MAs or MEds in Counselling Psychology (where the kind of experience you have is highly valued), and these lead to qualification as a Counselling Psychologist or Psychological Associate, both professions that are almost identical to Clinical Psychologist (esp. the latter, which in fact comes with the exact same privileges, i.e. pay rate, what you can treat etc., except without the title of “Psychologist.” These paths avoid emphasis on research, which also appeals to those who care more about treating patients rather than pursuing a career in academia.